“This is the end”; Mockingjay – Part 2

This is the one film I’ve been absolutely certain on viewing in 2015, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 was released last Thursday and so, of course, I headed straight to my local cinema to see the epic finale.

Being a huge fan of the franchise I already knew of the plot and the deaths that would occur in this final instalment from reading the bestselling literary trilogy; despite this, I knew that it wouldn’t spoil the film for me.

Francis Lawrence never disappoints when bringing the stories to the big screen, his talent for visually creating entire new worlds has been shown before in features such as ‘I Am Legend’ and ‘Water for Elephants’; both of which are equally entertaining features in there own right. When he was approached by Lionsgate in 2012 to direct the remaining 3 films in the quadrilogy fans were finally satisfied, as Lawrence corrected the mistakes that previous director, Gary Ross, had missed. (Such as the appearance of Buttercup, Prim’s cat)

Mockingjay: Part 2 implies a return to the arena, as President Snow plants so-called ‘Pod’s’ all over the Capitol in order to try and stop the rebellions attempts to invade and essentially take down Snow himself. This means that once again, Katniss has to face mutts, gunfire and various other means of destruction which have been created from the twisted mind of President Snow. This is particularly what I love about the saga, as it makes the features all the more fast-paced and thrilling to watch, and it’s also what I feel was missing from the previous installment. (Mockingjay: Part 1).

I also enjoyed the sheer amount of enigma portrayed throughout the feature – especially in the last third of the film. When watching, you never know what will happen next, which I feel makes you feel so involved in the film; I willed the characters on, wanting them to survive this terrible ordeal. There are just so many overwhelming scenes of emotion, *spoiler alert* for example I was in awe of Jennifer when watching the scene where Katniss is re-united with prim’s cat and she becomes overwhelmed with grief for her sister . I felt like these scenes were all well-placed, they didn’t feel like scenes from Twilight when they would say cheesy, defiant phrases to fill the time. Everything written by Danny Strong was for a purpose and to move the narrative on.

Finally I have to admire the work of Suzanne Collins, for creating such a strong female protagonist which I feel all young girls can look up to. I can only hope story of the ‘girl on fire’ and the games in which she played will be remembered for years to come.